Wealthsimple vs Coinbase | Why Canadians Should Use Coinbase
Jack Moreau
Feb 2024
9 min read
Fact checked
Wealthsimple vs Coinbase: We've analysed both platforms based on their features, trading fees, and user experience. By the end of this comparison, you'll have all the information you need to confidently choose the best exchange!
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
Wealthsimple is a Canadian-based financial services company that has been around since 2014. The company offers a range of investment products and services, including robo-advisory, stocks and shares ISAs, savings accounts, and cryptocurrency trading.
Wealthsimple exchange
Wealthsimple's goal is to make investing easy and accessible to anyone who wants to start planning for their future. With over 3 million users in Canada, Wealthsimple is one of the most trusted and reliable investment services in the country.
Wealthsimple app
On the other hand, Coinbase is a leading US-based exchange and wallet service that was founded in 2012. The platform offers a range of services, such as spot trading, recurring buys, staking, and Coinbase Learn & Earn, an educational program that rewards users for learning about cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase is known for its user-friendly interface, security, and regulatory compliance.
Coinbase exchange
The exchange caters to both retail and institutional investors with its advanced trading platform, Coinbase Pro, offering additional features and lower fees. With over 100 million users mainly based in the US and Europe, Coinbase is one of the biggest exchanges in the world.
While Wealthsimple is limited to only Canada, Coinbase is available in over 100 countries. Both exchanges offer a decent range of cryptocurrencies with Coinbase offering over 200 and Wealthsimple offering around 50.
Coinbase app
Wealthsimple vs Coinbase Signup & KYC
When it comes to signing up for a cryptocurrency exchange, the process can be daunting. However, Wealthsimple and Coinbase have made it relatively simple for their users. Both exchanges require KYC verification, which can take a couple of days to complete.
Signing up for Wealthsimple takes only a few minutes. Users must upload all required documents for KYC verification, but once that is completed, they can access all services offered by the exchange. One caveat is that only Canadian users are eligable to signup to Wealthsimple.
Signup to Wealthsimple
Signing up to Coinbase takes about a minute to complete while KYC verification can take a few minutes to a few hours to get verified.
Once verified, users can buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies. One thing to note is that KYC is mandatory on both exchanges so users must be prepared to provide all necessary identifying documentation.
Coinbase signup
Wealthsimple vs Coinbase Products & Services
In regards to product and services, Wealthsimple offers Canadians the ability to invest in fractional shares of thousands of stocks and ETFs commission-free.
They also offer over 50 cryptocurrencies for users to buy and sell, including staking options for Ethereum and Solana.
Buy and sell crypto on Wealthsimple
Managed investing with a 0.5% management fee, savings accounts, 1% cashbacks, and free and simple tax filing are also available.
The user experience on Wealthsimple is great with an easy-to-use website and well-explained products with clear benefits. However, users should be aware that the exchange has higher fees compared to other exchanges.
Wealthsimple staking
Coinbase is a global exchange that has developed a range of products to suit beginners and institutional clients.
Coinbase USPs
Despite its vast offerings, Coinbase is bound by strict U.S. regulations which limits its ability to offer high-risk products like those found in many offshore exchanges.
This restriction, while reducing the appeal for professional traders, simplifies the platform for beginners making it more navigable.
Coinbase Dashboard
The platform offers two different user experiences in the regular Coinbase interface and the Advanced version.
Coinbase Buy & Sell
The regular interface is designed for ease of use and beginners while the Advanced interface is tailored for experienced traders, offering more complex trading options.
Coinbase enables trading in over 240 different cryptocurrencies. Transactions can be carried out either through a user-friendly buy-and-sell feature or through the more sophisticated spot trading in the Advanced section.
Coinbase Spot Trading
For those looking to steadily invest over time, Coinbase provides a recurring buy feature which lets users implement a strategy known as Dollar Cost Averaging.
Recently, Coinbase has expanded its offerings to include BTC and ETH futures. Perpetual contracts for a range of cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, LTC, SOL, XRP, and AVAX are now also avaialble with up to 5X leverage.
Coinbase Crypto Futures
Despite being a top-three exchange in terms of 24/7 spot trading volumes, Coinbase is still way less prominent in the futures market.
Coinbase Trading Volumes
For users interested in earning interest on their holdings, Coinbase currently offers an attractive 5% interest rate on USDC.
Coinbase Earn
Additionally, the platform has introduced an educational learn and earn program where users can gain knowledge about various blockchain projects and earn tokens as rewards.
Coinbase Learn & Earn
Expanding into the world of digital collectibles, Coinbase has developed its own NFT platform allowing users to mint, explore, buy, and sell NFTs on blockchains like Ethereum, Base, and Polygon.
Coinbase NFTs
To bridge the gap between cryptocurrency and everyday transactions, Coinbase offers a Visa Card so that users can spend their crypto (USDC) or cash (USD) and earn rewards on their spending.
Coinbase Visa Card
For those seeking a non-custodial approach to crypto, the Coinbase Wallet offers a great solution. This wallet allows users to store and manage 10,000 of cryptocurrencies across multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and others.
Coinbase Wallet
Coinbase has also introduced the Coinbase One Membership. For the price of $29.99 per month, users get access to zero-fee trades, enhanced staking rewards, and priority support.
Coinbase One Membership
As a public company in the United States, Coinbase adheres to strict regulations and accountability standards, making it a highly secure platform for trading and custody.
This security aspect is particularly appealing to large institutions like BlackRock and Grayscale, who trade or custody a wide range of crypto assets through Coinbase.
Coinbase Institutions
Coinbase Prime offers high-net-worth individuals and institutions access to advanced trading, financing solutions, cold storage, staking services, and more, emphasizing the platform's commitment to serving a diverse range of clients.
When it comes to trading fees, Wealthsimple and Coinbase couldn't be more different.
Wealthsimple doesn't operate an exchange, instead they work with other exchanges and charge a very high fee of 1.5-2% per transaction. Coinbase charges a spot maker fee of 0.40%, and if you're a spot taker, that fee jumps up to 0.60%.
Wealthsimple fees
Between the two, it's clear that Wealthsimple is the more expensive option for cryptocurrency trading. Their fees are significantly higher than Coinbase's, which already isn't known for being the cheapest exchange out there.
Let's take a closer look at the deposit methods offered by Wealthsimple and Coinbase.
Wealthsimple offers two fiat deposit options in CAD and USD that can be deposited via bank transfers and credit/debit cards.
This is great news for anyone who is looking to get started with cryptocurrency trading but doesn't have any cryptocurrency yet. Wealthsimple also doesn't charge any fees for fiat deposits or withdrawals, which is a great perk.
Coinbase offers more fiat deposit options including USD, EUR and GBP. Users can deposit fudns via ACH and Wire (USD), SEPA (EUR) and Swift (GBP).
While you can't deposit with a credit or debit card on Coinbase, you can still fund your account with fiat currency using these other methods
When it comes to withdrawing your funds from exchanges, it's important to know what options are available and what fees are associated with them. Let's take a look at the withdrawal methods offered by Wealthsimple and Coinbase.
Wealthsimple offers fiat withdrawals via bank transfer to Canadian banks. This means that if you have Canadian dollars in your Wealthsimple account, you can withdraw them directly to your bank account. These withdrawals are free of charge, which is a nice bonus.
Coinbase offers fiat withdrawals via ACH, wire transfer, SEPA, and Swift. ACH withdrawals are free, but wire withdrawals come with a $25 USD fee. SEPA withdrawals have a fee of 0.15 EUR, and Swift withdrawals have a fee of 1 GBP.
Fiat withdrawals on Coinbase
Coinbase supports a variety of cryptocurrencies with varying withdrawal fees. For example, Bitcoin withdrawals have a fee of 0.0001 BTC, while ETH withdrawals are free of charge.
Although both offer a broad range of investment products, they differ in terms of their geographical reach, the number of cryptocurrencies they offer, trading fees, deposit and withdrawal options.
Wealthsimple is a Canadian-based company that focuses on providing investment opportunities to Canadians. With a user base of over 3 million, Wealthsimple offers over 50 cryptocurrencies for users to buy and sell, and fractional shares of thousands of stocks and ETFs commission-free.
They also offer managed investing, savings accounts, cashbacks, and free tax filing. Wealthsimple's user experience is fantastic with free fiat deposit and withdrawals but they have much higher fees compared to other exchanges.
Contrast this to Coinbase which is available in over 100 countries and caters to both retail and institutional investors.
With over 100 million users, Coinbase offers a wide range of products, such as spot trading, lending and borrowing, a Web 3 wallet, NFTs and more. The exchange also offers Coinbase Pro which is an advanced trading platforms offering additional features and lower fees.
Coinbase's user experience is great overall but and while the spot fees are lower than Wealthsimple, Coinbase's spot trading fees of 0.40% for makers and 0.6% for takers are quite a bit higher than the market average.
Wealthsimple is a decent option for Canadians who don't mind the higher fees and Coinbase is an good option for those in the US and Europe who wanted to use a regulated exchange that they can deposit fiat currencies to.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
Author
Jack Moreau
Jack is a crypto writer and reviewer who has been active in the space since he caught the crypto bug in 2017. With a passion for trying out new shiny things, Jack is always eager to try the latest cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets or DeFi applications.
